Snowflower
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I recently returned from a weeklong trip to Guatemala. I went with a charitable organization I'm involved with called Friendship Bridge. We provide microcredit loans to women in Guatemala to allow them to start or expand their own businesses. The women join together in borrowing groups and all collectively guarantee each others loans. This trip allowed us to travel around the country meeting some of the borrowers, seeing some of the educational programs Friendship Bridge provides and hearing how these very small loans have changed the lives of these women and their children.
The kitchen belonging to one of our clients. This woman uses her loan to raise chickens and pigs, as well as to grind maize for tortillas:
The grounds of the hotel on the shores of Lake Atitlan where we stayed later that night. Kind of a disconnect from the homes we had visited earlier in the day.
The waterfront in Santiago Atitlan with views of one of the many volcanos surrounding the lake.
Maria, one of our borrowers showing and describing her work. This woman is 26 years old, speaks only Quiche (a mayan language) and has only been as far as 2nd grade. Her loan enables her to buy thread for the beautiful embroidery work that she does. The money that she has made (as well as other family earnings) has allowed her extended family to buy a house and to send their children to school.
Maria's sister in law making tortillas in an open air kitchen.
Riding in a tuk tuk to visit the village of Santa Caterina Palopo.
Members of our borrowing group in Santa Caterina Palopo.
Me with Maria, the daughter of one our our members. She was quite the little entertainer!
The kitchen belonging to one of our clients. This woman uses her loan to raise chickens and pigs, as well as to grind maize for tortillas:
The grounds of the hotel on the shores of Lake Atitlan where we stayed later that night. Kind of a disconnect from the homes we had visited earlier in the day.
The waterfront in Santiago Atitlan with views of one of the many volcanos surrounding the lake.
Maria, one of our borrowers showing and describing her work. This woman is 26 years old, speaks only Quiche (a mayan language) and has only been as far as 2nd grade. Her loan enables her to buy thread for the beautiful embroidery work that she does. The money that she has made (as well as other family earnings) has allowed her extended family to buy a house and to send their children to school.
Maria's sister in law making tortillas in an open air kitchen.
Riding in a tuk tuk to visit the village of Santa Caterina Palopo.
Members of our borrowing group in Santa Caterina Palopo.
Me with Maria, the daughter of one our our members. She was quite the little entertainer!
